We've reached twenty sets of Fabulous Finds!

Thought I'd start a new thread with my latest acquisition (that doesn't look right but spellchecker approves). My wonderful mother-in-law has produced two original green Viragos for me; one's gone into the duplicates thread but one I shall be keeping - A Wreath for the Enemy.

Lovely mother-in-law - well done!

>1 CDVicarage::
Now THAT is something to smile about Kerry. How very thoughtful of your m-i-l. Mine is wonderful and all that but she doesn't think about these kinds of things. Her mind goes to the more practical. I think it is a generational thing as she is in her mid eighties.
And thank you for beginning the new post. :-)

Kerry - I wish I had a mother in law like that and I hope I get a daughter in law I can buy books for. I love A Wreath for the Enemy. It is a strange book but I love that two children from different homes each wish they had the other's parents.

#3 Belva, my m-i-l is 83!

Wow Kerry! She is very sensitive to the delights of your heart. That is so sweet, loving & kind. You are indeed a lucky girl.

I'm not sure what fabulous finds will result from this but ...

I just received a text message from my daughter who is in London this weekend:
Send me the list of books you already have because this shop by our hotel has a whole Virago section!

Included was a photo of the aforementioned section, and it does indeed look like they have a nice selection. Of course I readily complied with her request.

For anyone interested (Karen/kaggsy, I'm looking at you!), the shop is Skoob Books, sort of near the Russell Square tube stop.

Oh good old Skoob!

I *have* been to Skoob - and came out with a lot less money and a lot more books! It's *definitely* worth a visit - I think you might well be updating your wishlist soon Laura!!

Through the mail a print on demand copy of The Reef by Edith Wharton.

>9 kaggsy:: I think you might well be updating your wishlist soon Laura!!
I won't be surprised to find green spines under the Christmas tree, Karen. That's the next time I'll see her, and I would not expect her to ship them to me. So now I have another reason to anticipate her homecoming (as if I needed one ...)!

11: Not long till the big day, Laura! :) I have actually started my Christmas shopping quite early this year!

Well well well well well. Kate demonstrated a keen ability for Virago spotting. She sent me a photo of the acquisitions today (click for a larger view):

Pilgrimage I by Dorothy Richardson (well actually all four but had touchstone problems)
Harriet Hume
Brown Girl, Brownstones
Letty Fox
Cousin Rosamund
The House in Dormer Forest
The Doves of Venus
The Odd Women
Daughter of Earth
Deborah

That's my girl :)

Oh, and today was my Thingaversary so her timing couldn't have been better!

Happy Thingaversary Laura and your daughter did very well for you. Some great books there! She is a ROCKSTAR!

Wonderful Laura - such lovely finds! Well done to your daughter and Happy Thingaversary!!

(I hope you enjoy Pilgrimage - I did and so did my Middle Child!)

>14 rainpebble:: she is a rock star, isn't she?!
>15 kaggsy:: I'm glad to hear that about Pilgrimage, Karen. I was just excited to get the entire set all in one go. I actually have Vol 1 but it's not one you see often this side of the pond. Clearly the good people at Skoob also understand the mind of the collector (the rubber band in the photo makes me think they would only sell these as a set).

Laura - she got you some really hard to find ones. Most of these are ones I do not have. Well done!

What a great haul to celebrate your Thingaversary! You raised your daughter well :-)

All four Pilgrimage books! I've never found any of those in any charity shop ever (even on this side of the pond)! I do have the first one from a RISI swap, (with Jane/Fleur I think).

Well done Kate and happy thingaversary Laura!

I have two volumes of Pilgrimage (I and II I think) and most of the others - I think there are 4 books in the pic I don't have.

lovely haul, lovely daughter.

I have been on a Virago 'finding streak' lately!

At BMV Second-Hand Book Store (Yonge and Eglinton) on Oct 10

Modern binding:
1. Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
2. All Men Are Mortal by Simone de Beauvoir

At the Great Escape Second-hand Book Store on Oct 11

Modern;
3. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
4. The Comforters by Muriel Spark

And at the second of the University of Toronto Fall Book Sales, this time at University College, on October 18

Original Green:
5. Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby
6. The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson
7. Over The Frontier by Stevie Smith
8. That Lady by Kate O'Brien
9.Told by an Idiot by Rose Macaulay
10. Wild Geese by Bridget Boland

Modern - green spine
11. The Orlando Trilogy by Isabel Colegate

I also went to the sale at Trinity College on the 25th of October but have not catalogued the 10 books that I picked up there!
3 greens, 2 blacks, 5 moderns

Will post those titles up later in the week.

Wow Cathy - amazing finds - really well done!!

>22 ccookie:: Good for you! Your hunting skills are commendable :)

>24 lauralkeet: - I CAN"T AFFORD THIS! I AM ADDICTED!

>25 ccookie:: welcome to Virago Collectors Anonymous, Cathy! :D

Gosh, I wish I had those sales to go to!

> 26 I actually am a member of FA which is Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous. I am addicted to flour and sugar and don't eat any of that. One of the things that happens when you give up one addiction is that another can take over. For me, at first it was clothes shopping and now it is books. A lot healthier addiction than carrying around 100 extra pounds on my body!

Amen Cathy! I have a doctor's appointment today and that will be the first thing he will tell me, I am sure.....to lose 100 lbs!

Edited to say that I just hope I live long enough to read all of the books in my house that I've not yet read.

30: Couldn't agree with that sentiment more Belva - I have a fear of running out of time before I've read everything I want.....

if you are interested the website for FA is:
www.foodaddicts.org

I was poking around AbeBooks and there are a bunch of Persephones for under $10, including shipping.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=persephone+books+ltd&sortby...

Onward I go!

From the University of Toronto Trinity College Booksale on the 25th and the 28th:

Trinity College Book Sale - October 25 / 28

Green
1.All Passion Spent – Vita Sackville-West
2.Strangers – Antonia White

Later Greens
3. Frost in May – Antonia White
4. The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall

Black
5. Frost in May – Antonia White
6. Beyond the Glass - Antonia White
7. 8. The Lost Traveller (2 copies) – Antonia White
9. My Brilliant Career – Miles Franklin
10. The Sugar House – Antonia White

Modern - Green Spine
11. Blow Your House Down – Pat Barker

Modern
12. Blow Your House Down –Pat Barker
13. The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
14. Union Street – Pat Barker

And at BMV (Edward Street) on Monday the 28th

Modern
15. Gerald: a Portrait – Daphne du Maurier
16. Jamaica Inn – Daphne Du Maurier
17. Mr. Fortunes Maggot – Sylvia Townsend Warner
18. The Tortoise and the Hare – Elizabeth Jenkins
19. The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

And today 9 more that I will list off later

Wow Cathy - amazing stuff!

I have only managed a measly one Virago recently - Luminous Isle by Eliot Bliss via ReadItSwapIt and a very lovely copy too - most pleased and thanks whoever on here recommended RISI - I've found it a lot better than Bookmooch!

32: Good spot Elaine - quite a lot of those are from the UK so bargains for both sides of the pond!

>33 ccookie::
Cathy, you have made some wonderful finds there. Excellent! Many are must-haves for a Virago collector. You library is growing quickly. Good on you!

>32 Liz1564::
Elaine, good find there. I was so bummed when I got there and found quite a few that I would have loved to order but I pretty much shot my funds on my Thingaversary & so now it is time to pay the piper and get the bills caught up. Woe is me. ;-) But it was fun to look.

Great haul, Cathy -- congrats!

But Belva you don't want to be left behind, and you must know that those people who give you your little plastic card are always happy to raise your credit limit.

Well done Cathy! Thanks Elaine. Have most of them but it was fun to look.

In the mail today the first of two pre-orders from BD. The Squire in Persephone. I am still waiting for a D E Stevenson pre-order - The Two Mrs. Abbotts but as some of you already know I have terrible luck with pre-ordered Persephones from BD. Twice now they have sent me the wrong book and then been unable to replace it. I am putting both these books away to give myself for Xmas.

So here is the last of my purchase lists:

From St. Mike’s College Book Sale - October 30

Green
1. Adam’s Breed - Radclyffe Hall
2. Beyond the Glass - Antonia White
3. Devoted Ladies - M. J. Farrell (Molly Keane)
4. Family History - Vita Sackville-West
5. Mary O”Grady - Mary Lavin
6. Golden Miles - Katharine Susannah Prichard
7. The Roaring Nineties - Katharine Susannah Prichard
8. Winged Seeds - Katharine Susannah Prichard

Later Greens
9. Beyond the Glass - Antonia White

----------------
My Virago Addiction Story

In April 2012, I purchased my first Virago, without knowing what it was, at one of the rummage sales I frequent. It was The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather. I just thought it looked interesting and yet have still not yet read it.

That year I also read Villette and Agnes Grey both listening to them and reading them (through LibriVox and Project Gutenberg). That, again was for the 1001 Book Group so I had still not heard of VMC’s.

Then I stumbled upon the VMC group and the Secret Santa Party and decided to join in. I got my first VMC from last years SS. That is, my first after I knew what VMC’s were.

Now I have 87 of them. Some are duplicates so I will be offering some up here once I figure that all out. Oh, and I will be sending some to my SSantee.

I have to stop now. I have spent hundreds of dollars on these books and have not read any of them! I have started The Well of Loneliness and Frost in May and am enjoying both very much but haven’t finished one yet.

I am moving into several very busy months and so, in all likelihood, will not do much reading let alone VMC’s but when I am ready, I am READY!

Any recommendations out of my collection of what would be a good read for a busy woman!

Cathy

Cathy, you have a marvelous collection! I think we all struggle to balance reading and collecting. I've read maybe 20% of mine.

I see you have several Elizabeth Taylors, which are particular favorites of mine. I also think you'd really like All Passion Spent, it's terrific.

Cathy, what a magnificent haul! At least you have plenty of books to keep you going for a long time! I loved The tortoise and the hare when I discovered it a couple of years ago, and Jamaica Inn is an old favourite.

Such lovely books Cathy! I was particularly taken with Mr. Fortune's Maggot when I read it recently - my only Sylvia Townsend Warner read so far, although I have several on Mount TBR!

Hi! My name is Cathy and I am a VMC addict.
I find myself thinking, maybe I will keep some of these duplicates. I like the original green but the later greens have a different cover equally beautiful and then there is the more modern with the green spine and then there is the really modern version. Oh, my!
I need help ...

*nods sympathetically*

#42 "I need help ..."

This may not be the best group to come to for help....

42: Cathy, I have 3 copies of one Barbara Comyns novel all in different VMC editions - my problem is that they have different introductions. I have two copies of several others too. Usually if I get a VMC copy of something I have in another edition, I pass the other one on, but I also have two Sybille Bedfords in VMC and Penguin Modern Classics.

44: :) You're quite right there!

Hi, my name is Cathy and I am a VMC addict.

Oh, good Lord, I just discovered Persephones. Although I have heard of them here, I had not investigated until today. They are so nice ...

Oh Cathy - Persephones are beautiful! I'm reading a wonderful one at the moment - The Hopkins Manuscript.

>47 ccookie:: HA HA HA HA HA!

Since they are nearly impossible to find used, and rather pricey new, I have managed to restrain myself somewhat. But they make nice gifts (HELLO SECRET SANTA!) and I have been known to take advantage of their "special pricing" on 3 books.

>49 lauralkeet::
Laura, I do the same regarding the special pricing on 3 books. Once a year I indulge, usually after I get the Biannually. They are lovely books but you are right.........pricey............especially here on this side of the pond. Shipping is horrendous.

>47 ccookie::
Congrats Cathy. hee hee hee I see another 'poor house' in the future.

It is good to be with people who understand!

Yes it is ... although ... I would never have discovered Virago or Persephone if it weren't for these wonderful "people who understand"!!

yep!

I bought a couple of VMCs the other day - Elizabeth Taylor's Palladian and Gertrude Stein's Blood on the Dining-Room Floor. Obviously the first one is a somewhat known entity, but I am a bit nervous about embarking on the latter!

Oh, I've got that Stein, too, bought it in Oxford last time we were down. We can read it together if you're scared, I'm a bit scared, too! Let me know when you want to start it!

56: Well done Simon! Jealous of the Stein - I have read it (and got something out of it!) but don't have the VMC.

55 - Good idea! It'll probably be in the new year sometime...
56 - There is an excellent charity bookshop in Bristol (for Amnesty) and it had SO many VMCS! I had most of them already, but kept coming across books I'd paid a lot more for...

57: The shop sounds lovely! It *is* annoying when you keep coming across bargains you already have - there are a few VMCs left in the local charity shops (!) which I already own but I keep having the terrible urge to buy them!!

of course none of us are really allowed to buy ANYTHING at the moment, are we *remembering the VSS* ...

59: No - ahem - I'm not really.... (I'll ignore the three Beverley Nichols crime books that have just magically appeared through the door...) I'm going to stop buying now till Chrsitmas - promise!!

Has no one had any more fabulous finds recently, or have you all been as lazy as me about writing them up?

I'll post more later, but I'll just bump up the thread for now, and mention a recent Kindle UK purchase while it's still on special offer in case anyone else wants to take advantage of it:

Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties by Rachel Cooke is quite a recent publication and is available for £1.29 - most of my purchases at around the same time about a week ago are back to previous prices, so I don't know how long for.

I had noticed this earlier but thank you for reminding me of it, Luci, I've just added it to my kindle!

I *have* had a few fab finds lately - I've just been a bit disorganised and also don't like to sound too braggy. Anyway, there are some pictures and stuff about a few here! :

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/synchronicity-serendipit...

(ETA: 40p for a Virago isn't bad!!)

Nightingale Wood is a lovely book, too.

This thread is here for people to brag about their finds, or confess their compulsive tendencies in relation to books.

64: Well I have plenty of those kind of tendencies..... :)

I forgot to report that over New Year I acquired an original green copy of The Beth book, and also a Virago edition of Peyton Place. Something tells me that these two are about as different from each other as any two Viragoes can be!

I've had The Beth Book for a long time - it was a set book on a course I did on the novel of adolescence and self development nearly 25 years ago! (showing my age). I did just buy a a Kindle version of it and Ideala together though - I'm curious about Sarah Grand's other books.

Just the other day, I learned that an LT member has set up a publishing outfit called Victorian Secrets - the link is on catherinepope's page (or you get some weird stuff). They are trying to make obscure Victorian novels available in print/ebook form, and are also offering a Kindle version of The Beth Book complete with an introduction.

I also bought a secondhand copy of Peyton Place recently - I keep finding VMC's bodicerippers at the moment.

#63 Nightingale Wood is wonderful and unmissable at 40p!

68: I'm looking forward to it! :)

OK....confession time....I went a bit mad at the Lifeline sale in Brisbane yesterday....



The books were in near to perfect condition and only $2.50 (AUST) each so I couldn't resist....
"
Not one but two Elizabeth von Arnims - Love which I have listened to as an audio book and thoroughly enjoyed so can't wait to read it in print and The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen

Marjorie Barnard's The Persimmon Tree and Other Stories

Not one but two Kay Boyles Year Before Last and Plagued by the Nightingale

Ann Bridge's Peking Picnic - I love the cover!

Not one but two M.J. Farrell aka Molly Keane - Loving without Tears (I did have a copy of this but a later version and I prefer the picture on the front of the earlier version) and Young Entry

Zora Neale Hurston's Jonah's Gourd Vine

Margaret Kennedy's The Constant Nymph which to my delight was mentioned by Violet on page 231 of my Xmas present from Simon i.e. Hostages to Fortune as I was reading it this morning over my morning cuppa

Esther Kreitman's Deborah,

Beatrix Lehmann's Rumour of Heaven

Mrs Oliphant's Salem Chapel

Naomi Mitchison's The Corn King and The Spring Queen - what an odd little book that sounds to be sure - only it's not little - one for reading in retirement I suspect...

Kate O'Brien's The Ante-Room

Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies

E. Arnot Robertson's Cullum - which sounds quite exciting from the back cover

Not one but two Vita Sackville-Wests - Seducers in Ecuador & the Heir and Family History - I am besotted with the latter title for many obvious reasons

Christina Stead's The Beauties and the Furies

G.B. Stern's A Deputy was King

Jan Struther's Try Anything Twice - my first Struther

Sylvia Townsend-Warner's The Corner that Held Them

Not one but two Rebecca Wests - The Fountain Overflows and The Thinking Reed

and last but not least

Edith Wharton's Hudson River Bracketed - love Edith Wharton - it's been a long time since I read any of hers.

So I didn't find Katherine Susannah Prichard's Winged Seeds but one mustn't grumble ;)

And now my Virago bookshelf is almost full!



So that I didn't appear totally OCD I also purchased The Cordon Bleu Cookbook and The Hostess Cook Book and The Alex Smith Complete Home Furniture Maker



But I don't think the cashier was convinced......

Wow! That is amazing.

I hope you still have room for the two coming from me. They are in the post, or rather, on their leisurely sea voyage.

Oh yes dear Kerry....I will definitely make room. I feel very embarrassed at my indulgence but truly, they were in excellent condition ...I suspect most of them had never been owned or worse still...owned but never read....I hope and pray my Secret Santa gift to you eventually turns up. I do think it would make a good documentary...the sea voyages our Viragoes go on...our packages may be passing each other as we write!

>70 alexdaw: - Alex - that is a marvellous find - Lifeline seem to receive a lot of Virago donations. I found a huge haul at the Canberra Lifeline sale several years ago which boosted my collection
substantially at the time. I haven't been to one of their sales for years. You have inspired me to check out when the next one is on in my district or Canberra. Enjoy your finds.

OMG Alex - it's a beautiful thing and sooooo cheap! Well done! And you got The Corner that Held Them in original green, not to mention The Thinking Reed which I have never seen in any color. And all in such beautiful condition.

Wow!

Now that's very interesting mrspenny ...I'm glad I have inspired you...the only salve to my guilty conscience was that the money was going to a good cause. Yes romain....I seem to have picked up some that I have never seen before...yes elkiedee Wow indeed. It was all I could do to contain my glee and look nonchalant as I stuffed them quickly into my old lady trolley.

What wonderful finds Alex! You were quite right not the resist them - they just had to come home and sit on your lovely Virago shelves. Well done!!

Wow! wonderful finds - and a wonderful green spined bookcase :)

Wowee - good going! What a haul!!

What lovely scores you've made there Alex. I am so happy for you. And how lovely that beautiful bookcase looks fill with your greenies. You may have to retire just to read all of them. I fear dying before I get to all of mine more that I fear dying a painful death. ;-)
hugs,

Alex: you are my idol. That's amazing!!! The bookcase looks gorgeous.

What an amazing haul! I've only got a few of those, and not all in original greens - and certainly have never seen quite so many available all at once and at such a good price. I'm glad you've got the room to shelve them all, just!

>80 rainpebble: yes rainpebble - that is my greatest fear too...my husband and I have this fantasy that we will read all our books in retirement but will we ever be able to afford to retire...we have spent too much money on books!

>81 lauralkeet: lauralkeet you are too kind :)

>82 gennyt: It is an amazing haul yes? I couldn't believe it.

Ummm....I was so excited that I actually buried one of the haul under Saturday's paper (I thought the stacks looked uneven) and just discovered it last night when I sat down to dinner - so for your edification, I also scored Saraband by Eliot Bliss- I know, I know. I'll shut up now.

Well done Alex! Of course you had to buy them all - perfect green Viragos are too rare to pass up! And your bookcase is a beautiful sight.

Fantastic haul indeed, Alex. And It's always good when you discover VMCs under Saturday's paper :)

Slightly off topic, but I was just suckered again by World of Books. A volume described as "Very Good" turned out to be a tatty, grubby ex library book with the cover coming away from the spine. I will *never* buy from them again - not ever!!

Some Viragoes and some Virago writers in my Birthday Haul. And Kaggsy, is it you who's the Beverley Nichols fan? http://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/birthday-haul/

87: Lovely books Liz! Yes, I'm the Beverley fan and thanks again for your kindness!

Everything at W of Bs is described as Very Good, Karen. I haven't used them or Better World Books for a couple of years now. Mind you, I had yet another disappointment from Book Depository. AGAIN, the wrong book! I always think that the person assessing the books, and/or picking them off the shelves, must be like my WTF college-aged son. Minimum wage, bored to tears, hung over. 'Looks 'Like New' to me , dude...'

86: There are 3 or 4 really big secondhand sellers on Amazon who seem to do that - I would give them negative feedback and complain. What book was it that you were so disappointed in?

90: Graham Greene's The Man Within - I'm not really that picky when it comes to second hand books but I like them to be clean and intact, and this one *so* wasn't!!

I had my first really BAD experience on PBS a few weeks ago. I was attempting to get the Doris Lessing Children of Violence series. They all arrived just fine except for the 5th of the series: The Four Gated City. I could not believe it when I opened the parcel to find the book with the front cover half gone, the spine split from top to bottom right down the middle, and of course with the split spine came many loose & unattached pages. So basically I literally had a book 'in two parts'. And it was quite a ratty book at that. This one would have gone in the garbage at my house.
I was very humble in my approach to the issue but the party who had sent the book was quite rude in her response and refused to refund my credit. I made a second request and she even more rudely told me that the book was in fine form when it left her and whatever happened to it in transit could not be held as her responsibility. I apologized for upsetting her and wished her a very Merry Christmas. I love 'killing with kindness'!
Like Karen, I am not that picky but I do like to have a readable copy.

When I live chatted with one of the PBS Librarians, she told me that it was probably "the cold temperatures that had caused the glue to break down" and thus the split. Ah well, it's as my mother once said: "It's just a little window in your world".

Rant over...........

Wow Belva! That's dreadful! You expect a book to be at least intact! I walked away from a Gertrude Stein in the charity shop because all the pages were falling out and though I want the book, I want it in one piece! I guess I shouldn't expect something for nothing....

Fortunately, on ReadItSwapIt I have done fairly well and only had one book which was slightly below par - but not so much that it was a major problem. Cold temperatures my foot!!

That's a shame, Belva. I've had a couple negative experiences in PBS, where something went wrong with the book but the people are usually willing to go with the flow. I think most would have refunded the credit even if they knew it was in perfect condition when shipped. Fortunately there are few such bad apples.

Belva - no book that started off decent would've arrived in that condition - cold or not. Like you I started off tolerating these crappy books. But as I got more and more books that were not Virago, although carrying their ISBN on the site, I got fed up enough to refuse the credit. Deb told me to always e-mail in advance and check that they are Viragos and I now do that and avoid most of the misery.

I have never had anyone refuse my books because of their condition but I have sent people hardbacks when they wanted paperbacks (and vice versa). I have also sent the wrong book and an ARC. Occasionally I have someone lie and say they did not receive my book. This is almost always a student to whom I am sending a reference book or a set text. I sent one a couple of weeks ago, first class, and then when a week past with no credit I started e-mailing friendly reminders. But it was several more days before she acknowledged receipt.

This was my one & only bad PBS experience so for that I am thankful because I do use that site a lot. I did note that particular party's username, etc and will not swap with them again.
I am sorry you ladies have had the issues that you have suffered because when it comes to our books we do suffer when issues such as these crop up.
I know PBS says 'no ARCs but I have received several and you know.....I do not mind getting them. It's not a big deal to me. I am simply happy to have the title I requested & have it in readable condition.

I received an email from Persephone Books today:

VALENTINE'S DAY PRE-RELEASE

As a special offer for Valentine's Day we are making Diary of a Provincial Lady available for 2 weeks only in advance of its official publication date in April. You may purchase your copy for the special price of £8 until 14th February.

Buy it here: http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/diary-of-a-provincial-lady.html

I have the Virago special edition of this book (with the pretty fabric covers they did a couple years ago), but it's still tempting!

#97 I've got my order in. Can't have too many copies of my favourite book.

I had that too! Tempting, but I really don't need another copy. :(

#97 I wasn't going to because I have the Virago edition but as it's on offer and I have birthday money I suspect I will succumb...

>100 souloftherose:: uh oh, you've just reminded me I still have Christmas money and my birthday is coming up ...

I ordered it, my very first Persephone! Here it comes!!

After a longish break from book-buying, I went to Powells today on the hunt for VMCs. With three children in tow, it had to be a quick trip, but I still managed to snag Marriage, Aurora Floyd, Mary Olivier: A Life, A Note in Music, Troy Chimneys, and a hardback copy of Susan Spray. Happiness!

And then, as we were leaving, I happened to glance into another customer's loaded basket, and exclaimed, "Oh, Miss Buncle!" (being always thrilled to see that someone else out there reads the same obscure books that I do) When the woman turned around to answer me, I saw that she was wearing an LT t-shirt! We only got to chat for a minute, but she was there with a group meet-up, which I thought was pretty great.

well I ordered it too - even though I have a green Virago copy already - which I will also keep. While I was on the phone I found myself ordering operation Heartbreak and Heat Lightning - to cheer myself up.

>103 kdcdavis:: How wonderful you bumped into other LTers! I am active in the 75 Books Challenge group and there were several from that group at the Portland meetup. You can see photos beginning here.

I went to a crime fiction convention in Portland in 2002, and we went to Powells for breakfast before it started. Of course, we weren't the only ones from the convention, or from the online group who met up there, many for the first time.

Hello - I haven't been on LT for ages but had a lovely read of various threads today and yesterday. Thank you for the mention of E M Delafield's The Warworkers - it got me looking at some of her other titles and there are quite a few e-editions on offer at the moment on Amazon UK and com (sorry - I don't know about their other sites). I think I'm going to have to go for Thank Heaven Fasting at least :-)

>105 lauralkeet::
Thank you for posting that link Laura. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the entire thread and seeing all of the marvelous photos. I am pea green with envy as I am only a 2 hour drive away from all of the happenings & happiness. Can only blame myself for not checking the Meet-Up threads. Anyway I really enjoyed that thread. Thanx again.
hugs,

>107 patchygirl::
Hi patchygirl. Nice to see you here. Stop by more often. It's a great hangout. :-)

Since I've been assured this is the place to brag, I *did* pick up a few bargains at the weekend - including a Persephone and a Virago! Pics and details here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/an-interesting-looking-p...

Lovely haul Karen. I must say that the chat about Stoner has me intrigued. I don't really go in for Sci-Fi but may need to change that & read this one.

#103 Hi Katy! I'm the LT t-shirt wearer you bumped into at Powell's. :-) Thanks to Laura for solving the mystery and sharing our meetup photos with you. I actually live in the Seattle area, but four of us traveled down to Portland for the meetup, plus one person, Pat, from Idaho, and one, Mark, from Chicago. The rest were Oregonians. You'll have to join us for the next one!

I've been a member in the Club Read group for the last couple of years, but before that I was a 75 Books Challenge member. Do you have a thread? Mine is at http://www.librarything.com/topic/163332.

111: Thanks Belva! Tho' I'm slightly confused as Stonerisn't sci fi but a book about the life of a guy from a rural background who becomes a lecturer in literature at a US university. But I may be misunderstanding (or my post may not be clear!)

Oh sorry, for some reason the book page I ended up on made it sound sci fi. Will have to check again.
Thank you so much.

I had a birthday book haul last week when my husband took me to my favourite Oxfam shop:

I got:

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jess
The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy
The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor
The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim

All greens, mainly original greens, one or two newer greens.

And replacements for some non-green editions:

A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor

I also got a copy of Home by Marilynne Robinson after falling in love with Gilead a couple of years ago.

114: I think it sounds like something you'd like Belva - I read the first page or so and the writing seems understated but powerful (if that makes any kind of sense!)

115: Heather, what a wonderful birthday treat - you have a very special hubby and what amazing finds!! Well done!!

Wonderful haul Heather. You found some really wonderful books there. And I am sure you will enjoy Home as well. It's no Gilead but is a lovely and warm story. I loved it.
Looks like you may need another bookshelf or two soul. :-)

#116 & 117 Thank you :-) Hubby taking me to the shop wasn't entirely without prompting ("So, what do you want for your birthday?" "Why don't you take me to the Oxfam shop and I'll choose some books") but I still think he is a special hubby.

What a lovely birthday stack - and Happy Birthday!

One of Amazon UK's Daily Deals today is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and one of the new Monthly Deals is G B Stern''s The Matriarch. 99p each.

(Disclaimer - I don't own shares in kindle or anything :-) My e-reader was a very kind gift and I try to check the bargains most days.)

What a lovely selection, Heather!

I was enthralled with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and it was my book give-away for my first World Book Night. Hubby and I stood on the street corner of First and Pike (or Pine, can't remember which now) and gave out the book to the 'street people' of Seattle. Afterward we went to a Celtic Woman concert and spent the night at the Paramount Hotel. It was a wonderful evening all around.
I hope you enjoy it. I have yet to read The Matriarch. I think it's because it's the first of a series of 5. One day.
Anyway........very nice scores and such a good price!

Wonderful finds, Karen and Heather!

It's been a while since I've been charity shopping but as I have a birthday and a thingaversary this month, I think the time is coming.

I did discover some fab finds one morning just before Christmas, when waiting for the bus to take me to work. The bus stop is next to a charity shop which often has a cardboard box outside, full of freebies that are thought to be unsaleable. Usually tatty magazines and old sawing machine instructions but I have been occasionally lucky. This time I found (in great condition) a green VMC copy of I will not Serve , a green VMC of The Enchanted April, and a Penguin edition of Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford.

I keep meaning to pop in with a donation and a reassurance that I will buy VMCs and they don't need to go in the free box! They only charge 40p a paperback (or 20p when they're having a sale) anyway.

>122 Soupdragon::
Excellent Dee! It doesn't get any better than that, does it!?!

That's wonderful Dee - some charity shops don't seem to realise that we readers like older books!!

124: I know, Karen. The charity shops that only sell newish paperbacks in pristine condition (eg our local Barnardos) slightly worry me. I can't help wondering what happens to the other books that are donated.

I'm not sure if it happens in all towns, or with all charity shops, but I do know that in Penzance the Oxfam shop sends excess stock down the road to Cancer Research, where the policy seems to be 'pile it high and sell it cheap.'

And I recall from a few years ago, when Barnados first set up in town, that they have big stock warehouses that collect and send out, so hopefully those older, tattier books are being gathered up and sold somewhere.

126: Thanks, Jane. That's good to know.

Oh, I do hope the older books survive. Certainly our Oxfam specialises in them!

I'm quite fussy about condition with a lot of books, and certainly for books which are very common in charity shops, I won't buy very battered copies (especially not in some London and Ilkley charity shops which sell even tattered stuff for £2 or £2.50). But I would definitely buy Viragos in almost any condition for 40p - I have seen one recently which upset me because it was one I really want, a Rumer Godden reprint, but it appeared to have been dropped in the bath, and it was just too damaged. All the pages were still readable and it was 50p but still...

My most recent VMC charity shop find was Chatterton Square. My most impressive find wasn't Virago, but a set of 3 NYRB edition books by Joyce Cary, someone whose work I've been meaning to read forever because he was a close friend to my mum and all her family, a sort of godfather although they weren't religious. I had two of the books in battered Penguin and nice but ex-library hardback, but I couldn't resist this set for £1 each.

129: Yes, I will buy green VMCs and original Penguins in more battered condition than I usually would otherwise but would also have drawn the line at that Rumer Godden.

That Joyce Cary NYRB set sounds lovely. I have Herself Surprised in ancient orange Penguin but think I would be more likely to get round to reading a NYRB in nice condition. I may add to the wishlist. Interesting that he was a close friend of your mum's family.

There is a danger that in visiting my wishlist, books may be actually bought, particularly as an email with a £70 Amazon voucher has just arrived in my inbox. (Part of a new mobile phone contract deal.)

130: Oh Dee! What books you can get with a £70 Amazon voucher.....!! Happy shopping!

>126 BeyondEdenRock: - Jane! It's good to hear from you! I was thinking about you in Penzance and hope you're staying dry and safe!

132 - We're all safe and well, though Briar is bemused by the storm board that means she can't get out of the front door, and by the battering that her beloved promenade has taken.

>130 Soupdragon::
Congratulations of that voucher Dee. Oh my, but couldn't we all have a terribly fun time with that!~!

>133 BeyondEdenRock: - Scary and awful! My husband's office is on the prom not far from where you live. He's next to the old Jewson's building ... which is apparently falling into the road! Give Briar a cuddle and stay safe!

Congratulations on recent finds and vouchers. I doubt there's anyone here who hasn't read it, but just to flag up that the VMC Rebecca is 1.99 for UK kindlers. I have a nice non-Virago copy but am very tempted.

Wow a £70 voucher happy spending Dee :)

I exercised great restraint at the weekend and only came back from London with one Virag (plus a couple of newbies...) - pix here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/in-which-i-exercise-rest...

Ladies (and gents!), I hate to be one to encourate profligate book buying, but I feel I need to pass on the info that the latest Book People catalogue has a set of Edith Wharton books - The Age of Innocence, The Children and The House of Mirth - all for £4.99 plus P&P. They are modern Virago covers by the looks of it, and a bit of a bargain if you don't already have them...... ;)

I'm thinking of buying the Edith Wharton set as part of a larger order - I have Innocence and Mirth which are possibly her best known two, but don't have The Children and I imagine that's a good price for that book alone.

Also UK: I discovered that the most recent Penguin Modern Classics edition of Katherine Mansfield's Collected Stories, introduction by Ali Smith, is £1.80 for Kindle at the moment.

Just got a lovely parcel: Peking Picnic, The Birds Fall Down and Love by Elizabeth von Arnim, all in good condition original green.

141: How lovely Kerry - what treats!

As I've posted on another thread, I did have some lovely finds at the weekend, including one Virago - pix here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/the-further-exploits-of-...

You certainly found some wonderful books, Karen, and at those prices how could you not have succumbed?!

I didn't find any Viragos at the weekend, but I did find biographies of Janet Frame and Radclyffe Hall. Actually, that's not true, I discovered an immaculate Margaret Atwood I already have, but the cover's very perfect and it was £1.30. Now all I need to do is reach that top shelf so I can give away duplicates of Moral Disorder and The Blind Assassin (an earlier find) next month.

I got an alert that Helen Dunmore's new WW1 novel The Lie is on offer at £1.69 Kindle today. I hopefully have copies of Edith Wharton, The Children and Angela Thirkell's Pomfret Towers coming from the Book People, but my box is in the hands of the couriers at the moment. They are both part of sets with other Wharton and Thirkell books I already own, but £5 for a new paperback copy of each is still cheap.

And Katherine Mansfield's entire Penguin Collected Stories, edition with intro by Ali Smith, was £1.80 on Kindle the other day.

I got an alert that Helen Dunmore's new WW1 novel The Lie is on offer at £1.69 Kindle today. I hopefully have copies of Edith Wharton, The Children and Angela Thirkell's Pomfret Towers coming from the Book People, but my box is in the hands of the couriers at the moment. They are both part of sets with other Wharton and Thirkell books I already own, but £5 for a new paperback copy of each is still cheap.

And Katherine Mansfield's entire Penguin Collected Stories, edition with intro by Ali Smith, was £1.80 on Kindle the other day.

Yesterday I went to a focus group on our local library services which gave participants a bribe of a £25 book token, and my younger son had a book token for his birthday, so I took the boys to the Owl Bookshop in Kentish Town today, as they have a better stock of Virago Modern Classics than any other bookshop - my local indie bookshop is lovely but a lot smaller, and Waterstones is just useless at stocking VMCs, even their giant flagship in Piccadilly Circus never has the ones I've gone looking for.

I bought 3 Rumer Goddens - they had 3 I already have and sadly not In this House of Brede, and 3 I don't own:

China Court
Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy
Cromartie vs the God Shiva

We also bought two Splat the Cat books and another picture book, and a couple of sale section books, and an owl, and I was given a lovely Owl Bookshop tote bag to cart it all home in.

Kentish Town also has an Oxfam Bookshop with some great books at reasonable prices - higher than Dalston which is actually a large general Oxfam, but less than most other Oxfam Bookshops or Oxfams with good book sections - most of the books I picked up were £1.99, but I got a Persephone I already have for £1.49, in good condition (Someone at a Distance). My VMC haul

VMCs
Enid Bagnold, The Happy Foreigner
Miles Franklin, Some Everyday Folk and Dawn
Dorothy Canfield, The Brimming Cup
Katherine Anne Porter, The Collected Stories
Ann Oakley, The Men's Room
Nina Bawden, A Woman of My Age
Dora Birtles, The Overlander

Also

Jenny Hartley, Millions Like Us - books/writers discussed include several VMCs and more VMC writers
Edith Wharton, collected uncollected critical writings
Angela Carter, Love
Mary Sheepshanks, Wild Writing Granny - I discovered a book about Mary Sheepshanks and F M Mayor I didn't know I had at the back of one of my double stacked bookcases last week (don't you love "finds" among your own books, or do you know exactly what you have?)
Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart - Vintage Classics
Philip Larkin, Jill - I already have his other novel, this was on the radio a little while ago
George Gissing, New Grub Street - Oxford World's Classics
Anthony Trollope The Warden - Oxford World's Classics - this has been/is being dramatised on the radio at the moment
nice copies of Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton and Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford, and a few other books
a copy of Joan Aiken, The Cuckoo Tree because mine is a bit too well loved
a few other books....
I paid just under £45 for about 22 books

I ended up with 4 extra bags to carry home on our two bus journey, and I'm exhausted, but it was such a good haul!

Wow! What an amazing day and wonderful finds! Well done! And I know exactly what you mean about discovering books on your own stacks - I actually don't have much idea what I *do* own...... !

What fun elkie!~! And what a day!~!
You scored some real dandies and hopefully the boys loved their choices as well.
Each time I read a Bowen I am amazed anew that she is not a Virago author.
Enjoy your new aquires.
jealous here in the Pacific Northwest,

Edited to say that Elizabeth Bowen is indeed a Virago author. Not with a VMC but with a Virago nonfiction: Bowen's Court. We have kaggsy to thank for that knowledge. Good job Karen. :-)

We hadn't picked up the post for a week due to illness. (hubby has been ill in bed with a virus for the past 5 days) So today with the sun in the sky & in my heart I pulled up those bootstrings & soldiered bravely out to the market & to the P.O. (I don't believe I had left my house since the first weekend of December.) Anyway I had a ton of books from Amazon & from pbs. One of them is a lovely work of Virago fiction: Every Move You Make by Alison Fell. And the cover is evocative and beautiful. I am so happy to have this one. Have any of you read her? I know that a few of you have this one.

Well done Belva! I do hope you and hubby feel better soon. We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and I thought spring was coming at last - my narcissi and snowdrops and even what look like some wild crocuses are out in the garden - but today we are back to teeming rain. Rather grumpily, OH remarked that it's like we're living in Blade Runner....

Hugs from the UK!

I remember really liking Every Move You Make and The Bad Box, but I read them a very long time ago.

I came home from an optician's appointment with 3 Persephones and some Viragos from the Oxfam Bookshop which just happens to be on the way back to the bus stop, yes, really! And a few other books besides. More details later, or maybe I'll just get round to cataloguing them.

I checked one of my Kindle wishlists for a book which I knew was coming out in paperback yesterday - I'd been tempted to buy at just over £5 with my Christmas/credit card loyalty scheme vouchers but had decided to get something else and see if the price dropped any further.

Lara Feigel, The Love-Charm of Bombs is about a bunch of London based writers including Rose Macaulay, Elizabeth Bowen and Graham Greene - and it was just 99p for my Kindle. I also bought Mad Girl's Love Song for 99p - as I'm one of those people who snaffle the output of the Sylvia Plath industry - I can give away the hardback from the Book People.

Talking of the Book People, the latest catalogue today includes the new editions of 3 Barbara Comyns books, and a VMC set of L M Montgomery's Emily trilogy. I'm not sure I can justify the Comyns as I already have 3 copies of Our Spoons, 2 of Sisters and one of The Vet's Daughter - the multiples have different introductions but it's a bit too crazy. I am going to buy the Emily books though (and I will give away my little Puffin Box set).

Arghhhhhhh! Haven't had the Book People one yet - will probably arrive tomorrow and I can see myself succumbing....... :(

(And I hadn't head about Mad Girl's Love Song - and I'm a sucker for *anything* Sylvia - what have you done.........)

155: You can just log on to their website....

I forgot to post these on here a few weeks ago. Through Elaine's kindness I now own Virago copies of

Two Serious Ladies
Round About a Pound a Week

Thanks Elaine!!!

Just goes to show you should never give it. Four years ago I wish listed Dorothy Whipple's The Other Day on PBS. Today I received my copy! This is the first volume of her autobiography.

Good on you both! Patience is a virtue, so they say. ♥

A pristine green copy of A fine of two hundred francs awaited me when I arrived home today, courtesy of kaggsy. I'm very much looking forward to reading it - it looks to be quite different from the more domestically-concerned Viragos. Thank you Karen!

No probs - glad it has a good home!

The Book People had a free postage over £10 offer this week - my set of the Emily trilogy in VMC arrived this morning. Sad they haven't commissioned an introduction to this lovely series but they do have nice covers.

Obviously not Virago, but I also bought Jo Walton's alternate history Small Change trilogy for £4.99 - I have the first in Kindle but that's £2.50 each for the other two and I will pass on Farthing to someone. And I bought the boys a picture book to take the order over £10 (the postage would have been more than £2.99 and that's less than half cover price, and we enjoy Jeanne Willis' stories here).

Our local branch of The Works have the three Edith Wharton books that were available as a set from The Book People - which is useful, because I only wanted The Children, and when I took off the money from my points card, it cost me 89p!!

Thanks to Karen pointing me in the right direction I picked up a lovely original green of Phoenix Fled the short stories of Attia Hosain from abebooks which arrived a few days ago.

>165 Heaven-Ali: Yay!!

>164 kaggsy: nicely done!

I found a Green edition of Pilgrimage 3 at the weekend, which means I now need to hunt down copies of 1, 2 and 4 ... I know a lot of people have struggled with this work, but I seem to remember Simon writing some interesting reviews of it.

>168 Sakerfalcon: Claire, I read it years ago and loved it (I was reading a lot of Virginia Woolf at the time!) But my Middle Child read it recently and also loved it - so good luck! I will keep my eyes open for other volumes!

>168 Sakerfalcon: Claire, my daughter found the complete set for me at Skoob Books in London, way back in the autumn (along with about 8 other VMCs, good girl). I brought them home after my recent visit. Previously I managed to get hold of vol 1 (which I passed along to Colleen/@NanaCC via the duplicates thread), but the other volumes had eluded me. Colleen mentioned someone in the Club Read group read the series and was singing its praises. Now, I just need to work them into my reading plans ...

>169 kaggsy:, >170 lauralkeet: Glad to hear the praise for Pilgrimage! I have ordered copies of 1 & 4 online, but am still seeking 2 ...

Good luck - I have 1 and 2 but need 3 and 4!

>172 elkiedee:: There is a reasonably priced copy of 4 on amazon at the moment, although it's hard to know what condition it is in.

Book Depository have print on demand copies of all of them but they are not cheap.

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West found in Newbury Oxfam yesterday!

For US residents. Amazon.com has Persephone Into the Whirlwind by Ginzburg on preorder for $16.75. Free shipping over $35.

I acquired a couple of new Viragos (plus a few other things....) at the weekend - pix and details here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/weekend-fun-plus-the-odd...

Lovely scores Karen. And what a wonderful weekend you had. Love your blog; such interesting goings on there as always. :-)

Thank you Belva! It *was* a lovely weekend - and the sunny spring weather helped too. Makes me happy that I live close enough to London to be able to pop down there!

>179 kaggsy: I too love the South Bank Centre, and that food market is wonderful. My sister and I were there on Friday after seeing the Vikings at the BM, and enjoyed grazing at the various food stalls. The books stalls had closed for the day though.

>180 Sakerfalcon: It's lovely, isn't it? I succumbed to a grilled halloumi wrap..... Shame the book stalls were closed - but, hey! that gives you an excuse for another visit! :)

Mmmmm, halloumi .... I could eat it every day! :-)

:)))))))))

So continually jealous of you Brits! :-(

>184 rainpebble: well, come visit us!!

Wouldn't I so love that!~!

Not Viragos - but I did have a few nice finds yesterday:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/the-return-of-the-book-f...

>187 kaggsy: What a lovely haul - I'm especially jealous of the William Morris in Iceland book!

I visited an Oxfam bookshop a few days ago - and came away with nine books, of which two were VMCs:

Trooper to the Southern Cross - the Thirkell that's rather different from her Barchester-set ones.
and
Harriet Hume : a London fantasy - about which I know nothing, but I liked Return of the Soldier...

>188 gennyt: Oooh - well done! I have Harriet Hume too, though I haven't read it yet. The William Morris is lovely so far - he's nicely self-deprecating, which is always appealing!

I found two VMCs last week in Any Amount of Books

Violet Trefusis, Hunt the Slipper
Angela Thirkell, Christmas at High Rising

>188 gennyt: I read Trooper to the southern cross for AV/AA last year and loved it. Perhaps not a good one to read if you are considering a sea voyage though ...

>191 Sakerfalcon: I'm a long way from the sea in Brum, and not planning any trips, so that should be ok. Glad to hear it's a good one.

In Sue Ryder Camden Town this afternoon (on our way to the zoo) I found an impeccable condition copy of the new VMC edition of An Episode of Sparrows. I also bought Ragnarok by A S Byatt, who has written some VMC introductions (and 3 other books). I think someone must give away a lot of their review copies there, as 3 of the books I bought are newly published, and even the other two could pass as brand new.

Wow! Lovely finds Luci - well done!

>194 kaggsy: Karen, this is a fabulous find of sorts. You probably already know this, but I was thrilled to see you quoted in the latest Persephone Biannually!!

>195 lauralkeet: Yes, I just noticed - how very exciting!!!! :)

Yet more fab finds here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/and-it-was-all-going-so-...

No Viragos, but a Persephone!!

I just bought A dud avocado (the "designer" hardcover edition) in Oxfam and the cashier asked me if it was a cookery book!

>198 Sakerfalcon: *snort*

>198 Sakerfalcon: LOL! I bet the they had fun shelving that in the right place!!

HA!!!!

As there has been so much good talk about Margaret Laurence here, I was pleased to pick up one of her books at the weekend:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/a-weekend-of-restraint-a...

No Viragos today, but I found a good condition copy of Within the Whirlwind, Evgenia Ginzburg's second volume of memoirs for £2.49 in Oxfam Wood Green. I plan to buy the new Persephone edition of Into the Whirlwind so it's good to have this too - Amazon marketplace copies start at over £15 including postage.

I hit Virago gold at the weekend with some amazing finds in one of the local charity shops - pix and details here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/in-which-i-hit-the-virag...

I *will* have a few dupes to offer....! :)

What a great haul! I recognise most of those covers, I must have the same early green editions of most. But what fun to find them all at once and so reasonably priced too!

>204 kaggsy: Wow. Just wow. You have all the luck, Karen!!

>205 gennyt: It *was* a lovely treat to get them all in one go, and the price was amazing!!

>206 lauralkeet: I *am* very, very lucky, I know.... :)

>204 kaggsy: What a great haul! I think we can all identify with that thrill of excitement when one spots a green spine on the shelf ...

>208 Sakerfalcon: It's a wonderful feeling, especially when it's one you've not seen before!

I agree - and they look in really nice condition. Do you think they came from one person? And if so, who and why? I asked someone that in a regular second hand shop once when I found a number of pristine greens together and he said that they all came in in a job lot he bought at auction.

I feel they *must* have come from one person, because this particular shop never seems to have greens. I often feel slightly sad when I see a collection like this because I wonder whether the owner is no longer with us, and then I start thinking about what will happen to my books one day - hopfully a while away... :s That's partly why I bought them even though I had some already - I wanted them to go to a nice home together!!

Time for me to brag again. Lifeline Bookfest this weekend in Brisvegas. I have Caspar well trained to spot the green spines for me, bless him. I scored (for $2.50 each) the following:

Union Street by Pat Barker

The Wild Geese by Bridget Boland

The World my Wilderness by Rose Macaulay

Winged Seeds by Katherine Susannah Prichard

The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor feel fortunate to have scored this - I don't remember hearing about it at all during our Taylor retrospective, but then I am a bit scatter-brained

Armour Wherein He Trusted by Mary Webb

Gone to Earth by Mary Webb

The Birds fall down by Rebecca West

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton a long time favourite of mine with a better cover

The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton - never heard of it before - what a fat volume it is and a bargain for the money.

Beyond the Glass by Antonia White

Thanks for listening to my bragging. Will I go back tomorrow or restrain myself? I picked up a couple of retro-cookery books and one on dressmaking.....sigh....I need more bookcases....

What fabulous books Alex - well done!!!!

>212 alexdaw: what a fabulous haul, Alex, but of course you should go back!

Not a VMC, but a VMC manquee, so a fabulous find all the same: Conclusion of the Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph (1767) by Frances Sheridan, novelist, playwright, and mother of Richard Brinsley. (Little known fact: in need of ideas for The School for Scandal, Richard "borrowed" from his mother's work.) Anyway, I read Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph about 20 years ago, loved it, and was so frustrated that the sequel was just not to be had. And now I can finally read it.

>215 Leseratte2::
Good for you Andrew. Your heart must be happy. :-)
So very nice to see you back. Missed your posts.

>212 alexdaw::
What an awesome grouping of books you found Alex. And yes, as Kerry has said, you definitely should return! Way to score.

Winged Seed and Fruit of the Tree - never heard of either Alex. Fabulous haul. Go back!

I'd seen Winged Seed before but Fruit of the Tree was new to me. I am sorely tempted to go back but my social calendar is a bit full today. I may have to send Caspar on my behalf...sigh.

So Caspar went back...and found two more! Well, actually three more, but I have one of them so I shall put it up on the Duplicates thread. So now I have The Curate's Wife by E.H. Young and Sisters by a River by Barbara Comyns. The duplicate is The Fly on the Wheel by Katherine Cecil Thurston. Go Caspar! Best son ever!

>219 alexdaw: Result! What a well trained son you have! (My Youngest Child is pretty good like that too - in fact, sometimes she's better at spotting them than me! Her advice on looking for new Viragos in The Works - just look for an apple on the spine - I should have thought of that myself!!)

>212 alexdaw: What an excellent haul! I love The fruit of the tree; it is quite different to Wharton's most famous books but very interesting in its central dilemma. I need to get a copy of Winged seeds, having read the first two parts of the trilogy.

I made a couple of fabulous finds myself this weekend - an original green copy of The enchanted April which I had read but never owned, and Try anything twice by Jan Struther, spotted by a sharp-eyed friend in Oxfam.

My husband is well-trained in finding apples and greens, too. Hooray for all our relatives and friends who Virago-spot for us! No Viragoes found or read in Iceland, and I have come back to a svelt TBR after some discarding and taking at least one fat book on holiday, so trying for NO fab finds for a bit. I think I have a few in hand for AV/AA though...

I am sure that one might find a good many wonderful mysteries in Iceland though Liz. Welcome home my dear.

Thank you Belva. I'm not the biggest mystery fan, which is a shame, as they have lots of scandi noir there. Mind you, I'm remarkably tolerant of the lurid violence in the sagas, standing near the point where someone was killed in the 13th century etc., so I'm going to try one anyway!

I've added Frost in May to my tiny Virago collection, thanks to romain/Barbara who sent it to me! I only have Year Before Last by Kay Boyle and Harriet Hume by Rebecca West in the green covers and I have a more recent publication of A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor.

I'm very excited to have the first VMC on my shelf and looking forward to reading it soon!

From my birthday books my dad ordered me I received today: Miss Mole and The Corn King and The Spring Queen.

I'm starting to collect Persephone and NYRB books now too, and will put them on the same shelf as my Viragoes so it will be equal amounts of loveliness and order. :)

I started this new group you all might fancy, and I hope it's ok to link it here.

https://www.librarything.com/groups/allhailkingedwardvi1

Thanks for the link Hannah! I have an awful lot of Persephones but only about 10 NYRBs. I decided I could not collect them as well as everything else.

In the mail today from Paperbackswap a fairly nice original green of The Roaring Nineties. I will not be reading it any time soon, because I read the second book in the trilogy for the WW1 thread which has more or less made the first book redundant. I have not bought anything since Christmas because I have little money to spare at the moment and because Book Depository AGAIN sent me the wrong book at Christmas and I thought - give it a break for a few months and read the 300 unread books in your bookcases.

I'm so jealous that you have any Persephones at all. They're so hard to get in the US--the first one I definitely want to get is Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary.

Inspired by Hannah, I ordered The Corn King and the Spring Queen from AwesomeBooks, and a very nice original, unread green copy arrived today. My only complaint is that it was packed with the back corner bent up - otherwise, it's perfect. (I also ordered a copy of A Description of Millennium Hall at the same time, but it turned out not to be in stock. It's good to have ambitions unfulfilled, I guess.)
>215 Leseratte2: Andrew, thanks for mentioning those books. Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph is available on Kindle for 99¢. Off to download!

Awh, Lizzie. *blushes* I'm glad I could inspire you to get more Viragos for yourself.

All my birthday Viragos came in, so after I'm done reading a series, I will start a Virago marathon--I only need the groups help as to which I should read first--I'm only saddened that it won't be "All Passion Spent" as I've yet to find a copy of that. :(

Here's what I do have: The Constant Nymph, The Lacquer Lady, The Little Ottleys, Ladies of Lyndon, The Semi-Attached House and The Semi-Detached Couple, The Clever Woman of the Family, The Three Miss Kings, Crossriggs, Belinda, The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Mrs. Palfrey at Claremont, Moonraker, Deerbrook, Enchanted April, The Corn King and The Spring Queen, Some Everyday Folk and Dawn, Marriage, Troy Chimneys, Joanna Godden, the Getting of Wisdom, Miss Mole, Miss Majoribanks, and Love-Letters Between A Nobleman and His Sister.

Help me, fellow readers!

You can't go wrong with Mrs Palfrey, Enchanted April or Diary of a Provincial Housewife. (Glad Getting of Wisdom and Joanna made it)

>230 toast_and_tea: what a wonderful list of books. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is wonderful as is The Diary of a provincial lady, Miss Mole and The Enchanted April, you have several there though that I don't have or haven't read - enjoy!

I made a recommendation ad on Goodreads--other than Viragos Modern Classics/Persephones, does anyone know of any good publishers that publish similar works, even if they're by men as well? I'd like to find more obscure literature.

Also, I'm looking for historical fiction or non-fiction, written or set in 1900s-1910s, preferably set in Britain and not dominantly about WWI--I'd rather read about Edwardian tea parties than gory wars!

Thanks for your help guys! I think I will start with The Enchanted April, as I have a burned copy of the DVD a friend made for me. :)

>231 Liz1564:, >232 Heaven-Ali: those would be my recommendations as well.

@ShyPageSniffer, just to fuel your collecting fever, Miss Marjoribanks is part of a series, the Chronicles of Carlingford, all available as VMCs. I've just finished one of the earlier ones, Salem Chapel, and enjoyed it very much.

Some lovely finds at the weekend, including a Virago! :

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/in-which-there-will-be-c...

I had a Virago find, too, at the weekend http://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/book-reviews-queen-of-dreams-and-w...

Three VMCs came my way over the weekend, via Paperbackswap: Losing Battles, The Quest for Christa T, and George Beneath a Paper Moon. Using their wish list feature really pays off!

I also have two coming from the same source Laura.

Hannah - The Go-Between by L P Hartley is set in 1900 and is about an affair between an upper class woman and a lower class man. The go-between is the 13 year old boy who runs their love letters back and forth. Most people who read it, love it.

>233 toast_and_tea: Hannah, if you want humour from that era, Saki is wonderful!

I keep buying Mary Hocking books. The Bright Day arrived today and I have March House on its way. Obsessed? Moi?

Gah, I wish I had money for a membership so I could add more books!

I'm just starting to collect these and I just bought a set of 6 on ebay, bringing my small collection to a total of 10.

The Perpetual Curate by Mrs. Oliphant
The Matriarch by G.B. Stern
The Fly on the Wheel by Katherine Thurston
The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien
The Way Things Are by E.M. Delafield
The Ante-Room by Kate O'Brien

Nice! I kind of forgot about eBay, I used to have an alert that would notify me of Viragos. I think it expired and I forgot about it ... Must remedy that!

japaul - The Land of Spices is one of the best VMCs - IMHO.

>242 japaul22::
& >244 romain::

I am quite in agreement with romain on The Land of Spices japaul. It is a perfect VMC read. And Kate O'Brien is also one of the finer writers in my collection - IMHO.

japaul, which one is up next?

>245 rainpebble: well, with that recommendation, I think I'll try Land of Spices in July. Thanks!

Excellent choice japaul.

With a mini-LT meetup on Friday 13 June (with Heather and Claire, and Darryl from the 75 group), a Read It Swap It meetup on 21 June, meaning two trips to Any Amount of Books and various other places, and a tour of 7 of the 8 Crouch End charity shops, I've found 5 VMCs and a few Virago non-fiction books this month (and lots of other stuff).

Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Corner That Held Them
Edith Wharton, Twilight Sleep
Mary Renault, Return to Night
Mary Renault, Purposes of Love
Ivy Compton-Burnett, The Mighty and Their Fall

Virago non fiction

Flora Tristan, The London Journal of Flora Tristan - I also bought another Virago Travellers book by her only to discover it was a duplicate, have given it to a friend
Kim Chernin, In My Mother's House - have made an exciting discovery in this one - in March, I was told that Any Amount of Books have bought a collection from Carmen Callil, Virago founder - but hadn't seen any evidence that any of the books I acquired were hers - but this one has a bookplate, Ex Libris Callil, and is signed by the author.
Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby, Testament of a Generation - a collection of their journalism

I also found a Greyladies book, a couple of other Virago travellers, and a few other goodies.

How lovely Luci - those are really great finds! (particularly the Carmen Callil book!

Just found Maurice Guest on paperbackswap and ordered it with a credit :D A black Dial Press virago, I hope it's genuine.

It's genuine because you ordered it from me. I have some other Dials listed. Have you checked my shelf? The Unlit Lamp is a Dial too, although the picture shows a VMC.

YOU HAVE THE BETH BOOK! I don't have an extra credit, may I have that as well?

Absolutely. Is there anything else you are interested in from my shelf? There is the Unlit Lamp and Golden Arrow, too.

Golden Arrow sounds wonderful too, thank you ever so much!

>251 Liz1564: - >254 toast_and_tea: this group is the best!!

My finds in >237 lauralkeet: also came from a member of this group.

I'll send off the three books Thursday. I cancelled the order on PBS after I printed out the label. That way you still have a credit to spend if you spot another Virago you want.

>255 lauralkeet: Totally agree - everyone I've met on this group has been lovely!

Oh! I got confused because it told me that you said that Maurice Guest has damage! LOL thanks! I was scared for a second!

Just ordered The Rising Tide on PBS. XD

I had to give a reason for the cancellation. Don't worry. All three books are in excellent condition.

This is the most generous book group in the world.

If only the Persephone Readers were so generous. I'm dying to get my hands on Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary. It's difficult as a bibliophile when your house comes with built in empty shelves! I'd be able to control myself if I had limited room, and even then I probably....Oh dear....

>261 toast_and_tea: I think it's probably more a reflection of the relative scarcity and price of Persephones compared to Viragoes.

It might be worth creating a search for Persephone books on ebay or abebooks - they do sometimes appear on those sites secondhand and although they're still more expensive than other used books they are cheaper than buying them new.

Heather's right Hannah. Almost all the people on the Persephone group are on this one as well. These books are so expensive and never turn up in thrift stores in the US and almost never on Paperbackswap either. BUT, I have found loads for under $10 on Amazon. You just have to look through a lot of crap to find them. If I see any I'll send you links.

Okay - here's one with the beautiful covers. 5th one down - $3.24 Like New. I always e-mail them to confirm it is 'Like New' and cancel if they can't guarantee it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1906462046/ref=sr_1_4_up_1_main_olp?s=boo...

Here's Miss Buncle's Book for $2.92

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1903155711/ref=sr_1_2_up_1_main_olp?s=boo...

But I had to scroll down 30 more pages to find it.

I usually type in Persephone Books Ltd into the search. You get good at scrolling, looking for either the grey covers or the end paper artwork. Then you look for VG condition and make sure they are not ex-library. Then you confirm the condition. Never buy from World of Books or Better World Books as most of their books are horrible even when they say Very Good. And don't be afraid to order from the UK. The books arrive very quickly. I seldom scroll now as I am looking for specific books. In that case I type in the author's name and the word Persephone so that I go straight to them without wading through other editions.

Good luck!

Two books from Paperbackswap this morning from Deb. Thank you Deb! Like Laura I've had these books on my wishlist over there for up to 6 years. Just shows that if you wait long enough!!!!!

For Love Alone - Stead
Vera - Von Arnim

Both in lovely green.

>265 romain: Oh I loved Vera though I had to read it on kindle. Lucky find.

FY! - for anyone interested The Exiles Return (Persephone) is available on Book Depository for $13.41 incl shipping.

My copy of The Exile's Return arrived today. Looking forward to that. I am also waiting for a box from Paperbackswap with a couple of VMCs so am hoping this will be a good week for books!

Not a VMC or even a Virago author but some.of.you might appreciate my joy at snaffling a 1930's hardback copy of Susan Glaspell' s Ambrose Holt and family there appear to be only 5 copies on LT.I got it for 99p on ebay. Described as a good reading copy with no DJ I'm not expecting much but so excited to be able to read some more of her work. She wrote few books and those not published by Persephone are hard to get and sometimes expensive. I am desperate to find the collection of her short stories. I could may be find them in ebook I haven't looked as yet but I want them in a proper book.

One of my favorite Persephone authors Ali. Well done!

Actually have just given in and bought Her America: A Jury of her Peers and other stories which was the volume I was after - from abebooks. *coughs* shall we just say it wasn't anything like 99p.

>271 Heaven-Ali: Tut tut! :))))

If it makes you feel better I spent over £9 on a Kindle book yesterday - way more than normal but I'd just learned that the book existed, that it's about 5 people one of whom was my maternal grandfather, and paper copies start at £44 plus postage. I also discovered a book that mentions my paternal great grandfather the other day (I seem to have been spending a lot of time looking up people who have some sort of family link recently), but it's not available from the library and available copies seem a bit expensive unless I know whether there is just that one quote of a few lines in the book or a few pages.

>273 elkiedee::
elkie, that is so way cool to find a book related to family members. And not just one but two! I should say that you got a bargain. And perhaps one day you will find it in print for less the 44 pounds. I hope, anyway.
Great score.
hugs,

>273 elkiedee::
Ali, sometimes the heart must simply have what the heart wants! ♥

I went to the Newberry Library booksale today and there was not one Virago to be found! Usually I pick up around 10 or more but
nothing today.

The day wasn't lost, however. I found first editions of these books for $2 each. They are in surprisinglly good condition.

Arrowsmith-Sinclair Lewis
The God Seekers- Sinclair Lewis with dust jacket
The Prodigal Parnets-Sinclair Lewis with dust jacket (obviously someone donated his Lewises. Sorry I missed Main Street or Elmer
Gantry.)

The Good Earth-Pearl Buck !!!!!!!!!! my favorite find

The Knave of Diamonds-E. M. Dell, Virago author of that great classic Way of the Eagle

Surrender! The Romance of a Woman's Soul-by Anonymous published in 1924 I think this might be one of those "no, when I mean yes" books. I got sucked in by the frontispiece which is a woman in a slinky dress enbraced by a man in a tux.

The Pit-Frank Norris a muckracking novel about wheat trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange written in 1902

The Vixens-Frank Yerby bodice ripper disguised as historical fiction 1947 great dust jacket
Prince of Foxes-Shellabarger barely a step above Yerby also 1947 another grest dust jacket

Everyone was commenting that,although there were lots of books, the number of books donated was down consideraly from previous years. Culprits were thought to be ebooks, people selling their stuff on Amazon etc.

Maybe I'll have better luck with Viragoes at the Oak Park book sale in a few weeks, although last year there were hardly any.

>275 Liz1564: Some interesting finds there, nevertheless Elaine! On the subject of Main Street, I have a copy I was about to donate - happy to send it your way (though it will be by slow mail if you don't mind waiting!) Let me know!

Hi Karen,

I do have a copy of Main Street, but it would have been nice to snag a first edition! Thanks for the offer, though.

Elaine

.276 No probs Elaine - a first edition would have been nice to get!

I haven't been inside a thrift store since before Xmas. Part of not buying books until I've read some of the ones I already have. But today I had to go to the shop right next door to one of my old faves, so I popped in and got 4 books for $1, including what looks like a brand new VMC of Memento Mori which I have read but do not own. Not bad for 25c.

>279 romain: 4 for $1! That's better than my cheapest local charity shop which is 2 for £1! Well done!

They are normally 2 for a $1 Karen but they were having a clear out. BUT unlike the British members of this site our thrift stores rarely, if ever, have VMCs.

>281 romain: :) We are sometimes lucky over here.....

>282 kaggsy::
Karen, you are ALWAYS lucky over 'there'. :-) ♥

>283 rainpebble: :))))

I never post my finds here. However today I must for after more than three years on my PBS wishlist I have received two long desired books: An African in Greenland and Understood Betsy. belva is a happy camper! :-)

Yay! Well done Belva!

I also got a haul from PBS in the last couple of weeks. Someone clearing out her books I think :) Like you, Belva I've had them on my wish list since 2008 in some cases.

I picked up a lovely old Cranford, one of those small blue Oxford Classics hardbacks, at a thrift here in Stockholm. A couple of months ago I found not just a Tauchnitz English paperback of Greengates by R. C. Sherriff, but a Ljus English Library paperback of Marganita Laski's Love on the Supertax as well. Score!

>288 booktruffler::
Well done book, especially as there are only 6 of the Laski listed in all of L.T!

>287 romain::
Isn't it such a lovely surprise what that occurs? Mmmm; makes me so happy.

>286 kaggsy::
'Swat I said Karen. "Well done belva!~!" Sounds like a bookish title, eh?

I had a gift card I had forgotten I had and so planned to buy souvenirs on my trip to the Hudson River Valley. Nothing appealed so I just spent it on Book Depository for 4 Persephones - The Woman Novelist, The Closed Door, There Were No Windows, and Wilfred and Eileen. I made a list of possibles and whittled them down by price and appeal. I now will own 83 Persephones and have 24 to buy, 6 if which are cookbooks I don't really want and which I resent paying $25 for. I have read 30 of the 83.

Excellent Barbara. I have several VMCs that do not look appealing to me & I keep feeling that I just need to read them and if I don't love them, get rid of them.

I've just been to visit a friend for a couple of days and she took me to the second-hand bookshops in Norwich - I've got ten Viragos, four non-Viragos, and came home to a parcel from Karen with two more Viragos! I'll list them later.

>292 CDVicarage::
Sounds like a lovely score!

Here is the list:

The Yellow Wallpaper
Joanna, both from Karen
Told by an Idiot
I'll never be young again
Letters from Constance
Up the Junction
The Sheik
Tell Me a Riddle & Yonnondio
That's How it was
Marriage
The Fountain Overflows
The Weather in the Streets
and all but one were greens.

The last two were original green replacements so I will post them in the duplicates thread.

I also got Cheerfulness Breaks in but not as a Virago.

It was a lovely haul, but now I have a real problem - my Virago bookcase is full.

>294 CDVicarage: luck you!!

Lovely finds Kerry - and what a problem to have! I can empathise - my Virago shelves are full too!!

>294 CDVicarage: I saw the pile on Facebook - lovely haul!

Great scores there Kerry! Good on you. Jealous here! I have been seeking any edition of Up the Junction for yonks along with another of Dunn's. I see more shelving coming your way soon. :-)

I agree. Jealous as hell!

Not a VMC, but Treveryan was waiting for me when I got home tonight. From the back cover blurb:

"A strange and fascinating novel. At Treveryan, we enter a house and a landscape familiar to any reader who has dreamed of Manderley. But Angela du Maurier, sister to the more famous Daphne, explores this territory with candor and sensitivity all her own...Be warned: once you begin Treveryan, you will not put it down." Sally Beauman

>300 Leseratte2::
Ohhhhh Andrew; I cannot wait to 'hear' what you have to say about that one when you finish it.

I'd like to finish Miss Marjoribanks first. But I'm definitely intrigued, especially since it was written after Rebecca. Angela must have been confident that it would stand up to the inevitable comparisons.

>302 Leseratte2: My recollection is that Treveryan and Rebecca had similar settings, big houses on the north Cornish coast, but otherwise they're quite different. I won't say more than that until you've had a chance to read Angela.

A few new arrivals here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/more-library-love-and-a-...

including the Virago Book of Love letters which I'd never come across before!

Not fabulous finds because they were both things I'd ordered but The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters and my new subscription to Slightly Foxed quarterly magazine both arrived in the post today. Happy day!

>304 kaggsy: Ooh - The Virago Book of Love Letters sounds intriguing!

>305 souloftherose: It is - and HeavenAli was curious too, so I've taken some pix of the contents pages and posted them here:

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/so-what-exactly-is-insid...

for anyone that wants to see what's in it!

I have had this one for yonks but have yet to read it. Glad to hear it's a good one.

Book Depository are now offering The Home Maker in beautiful Persephone classic edition for pre-order. They have offered it at least twice before and it has not been published but perhaps this time it will be. In fact I have had money refunded by both them and Amazon on this item so will be pleasantly surprised if it appears.

I thought it would be appropriate to post here. I want to thank romain and all other people on this group for being so generous. I am set to finish Inkspell and then read inkdeath and for my final fantasy book this month, I'm reading Strump, a book sent to me by an author. After that though is a Virago marathon, as I now have about 30-ish of them.

Here is my little Virago Haul:

http://shypagesniffer21.booklikes.com/post/976831/a-small-but-wonderful-virago-h...

Nice finds!

Wow that was quick Hannah! I only posted the box on Friday. I was able to send Hannah my scruffy dupes because Deb had a massive clean out of her VMCs through Paperbackswap and sent me nicer copies.

I've recently had some lucky green finds:
Women of the Left Bank
Daughter of earth and
A deputy was king

Now I just need more time to read ...

Nice! I have Women of the Left Bank - but I've never read it. As you say - more time! more time!

Book Depository are pre-ordering the newest 3 books from Persephone for appx $21 (incl S&H). They are a Whipple, a cook book and something called The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray (Toynbee). I pre-ordered the 2 novels. I also picked up 3 on AMP at very reduced prices but will not know if they are in the stated VG/Like New condition till they arrive. Back at work and celebrating first pay check of the school year by buying books. I will set them aside and give them to myself for Christmas.

On Saturday I found two greens by Dorothy West:
The living is easy
and
The richer the poorer.

I'm looking forward to these as I really enjoyed The wedding when I read it a couple of years ago.

I'm home and resting my feet after a mini-meet up today in Birmingham with 75 group member HanGerg and Viragoites souloftherose, HeavenAli and lyzzybee.

We visited two Oxfam bookshops and one other charity shop, and also had a few gifts to exchange among ourselves. My haul of 7 books for £11.50 was pretty good, and comprised four non VMCs and 3 Viragos:

Du Maurier's The House on the Strand
Jan Struther's Try Anything Twice
and my very own Love Child!

>316 gennyt:: Sad I couldn't make it. I didn't know that a second Jan Struther had been published as a VMC - is it fiction, non-fiction or both as the tags are rather contradictory?

Luci, sorry indeed that you could not be there with us! Another time, hopefully.

I was pleased to find the Struther as I really enjoyed Mrs Miniver earlier this year. This one is described in the subtitle as 'Essays and Sketches' so non-fiction. I was sold when I read the sentence quoted on the back page, which is the opening of an essay about parties:

Giving a party is very like having a baby: its conception is more fun than its completion, and once you have begun it, it is almost impossible to stop.

>317 elkiedee::
elkie, Try Anything Twice is filled with essays by Struther and sketches as well. I am inclined to believe that the book is mainly factual or perhaps a bit of both fiction & nonfiction. I have only thumbed through mine but it looks very interesting. It was published by Virago Press in 1990 at # 361 and has a nice introduction by Valerie Grove.
The book was originally published by Chatto & Windus in 1938.

LOL!~! It appears that Genny & I have cross-posted. ;-)

>316 gennyt: Your own Love child! What a lot there are in this group!

I spent this weekend in Oxford and even though it was not a bookish visit I managed to sneak a visit to the Oxfam bookshop on St Giles and came away with two Christina Steads:
A little tea, a little chat and
The Salzburg tales.

More finds this weekend, this time in Oxfam Bloomsbury:
On the side of the angels by Betty Miller
Welcome strangers by Mary Hocking (now I just need the middle volume!)
The quest for Christa T by Christa Wolf.

>322 Sakerfalcon: Very nice!

I've had three Persephones come in during the last week - all listed second hand as VG but actually all in fabulous condition.

Marjory Fleming
Minnie's Room
Greenbanks

Greenbanks was $8 plus shipping of $3.99, the other two were $12 plus shipping. Buying Persephones second hand is a gamble but this time the odds were in my favor.

I found a Persephone, House-Bound by Winifred Peck in a Wood Green charity shop a few days ago. A couple of weeks ago I found all 3 books in the Alexander trilogy by Mary Renault in Any Amount of Books (obviously new review copies of the Virago Modern Classics reprints which came out last month).

Over in Stockholm, I just nabbed an adorable Modern English Stories collection from the Oxford World Classics series. It has stories by Stella Gibbons, Elizabeth Bowen, etc, AND it has the original dustjacket.

At the same thrift, I also scored The Simple Pass On by Joanna Cannan, first edition. I haven't read her yet, but I've been meaning to.

I finally got round to driving out to a thrift shop in Medford - one of those ones run by old ladies that is only open for a few hours every day and even less on Saturday! I got a bunch of stuff for classrooms and a few things just to swap on Paperbackswap but I also picked up some oddities for myself.

3 international crime novels probably donated by the same person

Lehrter Station - David Downing (compared to Philip Kerr)
The Princess of Burundi - Kjell Eriksson (sometimes this Scandanavian Noir stuff is too violent for me but we will see...)
An Uncertain Place - Fred Vargas which is written by a French woman named Fred.

Also finally found The Piano Shop on the Left Bank which someone on this site raved about a few years ago and The Seventh Gate by Richard Zimler which looks very interesting and is in beautiful condition. It is a paperback with a dust jacket and almost on a par with a Persephone Classic in its cover art.

Wonderful finds - but oh poo! I saw The Piano Shop on the Left Bank in one of the charity shops today (and I can't think which one) and thought it sounded good and almost bought it. Rats!

P.S. i've read one Fred Vargas and I liked it very much!

Today in the mail a green copy of This Real Night from Elaine via Paperbackswap. I was expecting the new cover so was delighted to get a green. Plus the book by Philip Kerr's wife she talked about on this site which I am sure I will love because I love Kerr and have almost finished all his books.

I also got a second hand copy of Miss Buncle Married from Amazon which is in lovely condition and cost me $10 + postage. I have gone for almost 9 months without buying much of anything but am now on a roll. There was a time I could find Persephones for a few dollars but those days are over. However, given that they are now $23-26 new $10 + S&H is still very reasonable.

Happy Day! The mail brought the copy of The Hare with Amber Eyes that Karen posted to me in early August. I'm thrilled and thankful!!!!!

Yay! Glad it arrived safely Peggy! :)

My fabulous find is one which came surface mail from Karen. It's been so long that I had forgotten about it. So one can imagine the excitement when I opened the package to find Miranda Seymour's bio Ottoline Morrell: Life on the Grand Scale. I am absolutely thrilled and so looking forward to reading this gem.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Karen. God bless you for your kind and giving heart.
♥

Yay! So pleased it has arrived Belva - enjoy!

I'm another happy receiver of Book From Karen - The Bolter arrived today. I can only echo Belva: "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Karen. God bless you for your kind and giving heart!"
♥

Just happy the books have all arrived safely ready to be enjoyed! :)

I've been absent from most of LT since the beginning of the summer. But I am back to Virago because of our Secret Santa Group. Love the shopping and love the receiving!

In Sept I went to the University of Toronto (U of T) Victoria College booksale and picked up 18 VMC's. Pretty happy with that.

After cataloging them my collection now registers 107 books; some original greens, some later greens, some Penguin greens, some Dial Press blacks, some Lester, Orpen and Denys blacks and some modern; an eclectic mix.

My addiction is growing!. Now I want to replace all the others with original greens. I am losing my mind.

And I purchased another 23 books at the U of T University College booksale on Friday. Haven't cataloged those yet and some will be duplicates.

Here is what I got in Sept.

Original Greens:
Adam's Breed - Radclyffe Hall
Angel - Elizabeth Taylor
At Mrs Lippincote's - Elizabeth Taylor
The Ballad and the Source - Rosamond Lehmann
The Constant Nymph - Margaret Kennedy (Green)
Diary of a Provincial Lady - E.M. Delafield (Green)
The Fountain Overflows - Rebecca West
I'm Not Complaining - Ruth Adam
Luminous Isle Eliot Bliss
The Overlanders - Dora Birtles
The Three Sisters - May Sinclair
The Thinking Reed - Rebecca West
The World My Wilderness - Rose Macaulay

Later Green:
Blaming - Elizabeth Taylor

Green Penguin:
The Microcosm - Maureen Duffy
Open the Door! - Catherine Carswell

Black Dial:
Miss Mole - E. H Young

Black Denys:
True Heart - Sylvia Townsend Warner

more to come from the Oct 17 sale!

Now I need to find time to read!

Here are my finds from the U of T University College Book Sale on October 17:

Original Greens
1. Ann Veronica - H.G. Wells
2. A Compass Error - Sybille Bedford
3. A Game of Hide and Seek - Elizabeth Taylor
4. The Golden Arrow - Mary Webb
5. Hester Lilly and Other Stories - Elizabeth Taylor
6. In a Summer Season - Elizabeth Taylor
7. Jenny Wren - E. H. Young
8. Marcella - Mrs.Humphry Ward
9. Miss Marjoribanks - Mrs Oliphant
10. No Signposts in the Sea - Vita Sckville-West
11. Palladian - Elizabeth Taylor
12. Pilgrimage One - Dorothy M. Richardson
13. The Sleeping Beauty - Elizabeth Taylor
14.The Soul of Kindness - Elizabeth Taylor
15. The Thinking Reed - Rebecca West
16. This Real Night - Rebecca West
17. Troy Chimneys - Margaret Kennedy
18. The Wedding Group - Elizabeth Taylor

Green Penguin
19. The Curate's Wife - E. H. Young
20. A Stricken Field - Martha Gelhorn
21. Without My Cloak - Kate O'Brien

Black Denys
22. The Unlit Lamp - Radclyffe Hall

I'm so mad that you found marcella!

And from Oct 24th at the U of T Trinity College Booksale:

Original Greens
1. The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen - Elizabeth von Armin
2. Blood on the Dining-Room Floor - Gertrude Stein
3. The Crowded Street - Winifred Holtby
4. Letty Fox : Her Luck - Christina Stead
5. My Brilliant Career - Miles Franklin
6. My Career Goes Bung - Miles Franklin
7. Our Spoons Came From Woolworths - Barbara Comyn

Green Penguin
8.Crossriggs - Mary Findlater
9. Cecilia -Frances Burney
10. Marriage - Susan Ferrier
11. My Next Bride - Kay Boyle
12. Saraband - E. Bliss

Black Dial
13. The Semi-Attached Couple & The Semi-Detached House - Emily Eden

Whew! One more U of T. Sale to go!

Wow. You're having great luck at those sales!!

Pictures of my finds from Sept 19 and Oct 17:

More pictures of my finds from Sept 19 and Oct 17::

Final pictures from Sept 19 and Oct 17

And last but not least, my finds from Oct 24!

a green elizabeth von arnim! wow!

Wow! If I ever get back to Canada I'll have to find out about these sales and factor them in. I think I found quite a few harder to find books by English writers in Toronto and Montreal 10 years ago, including The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns.

If I ever found a VMC of Cecilia, I think I'd have to re-read it. All eight million pages.

Wow, what a terrific haul! So much green beauty in those photos!

While on my travels in the US recently I managed to find the following:
Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth von Armin in the slightly later green edition
Love letters between a nobleman and his sister by Aphra Behn in an original green edition and
I'm not complaining by Ruth Adam in a black Dial edition.

The first two were from Twice-Sold Tales in Seattle and the last from The Last Word in Philadelphia. Both bookshops also have cats!

Well done Cathy - some amazing finds!!

* wipes drool off of keyboard *

Wow, what a great load of good finds!

Yes, great going Cathy. I've never been able to find a green I'm Not Complaining and have never seen any copies of The True Heart.

About ten years ago I found three copies of Cecilia in a local second hand store. They were all original green and seemed brand new and I bought one copy. Then after I joined PBS I went back and bought the other two and swapped them - perhaps with people in this group, perhaps not. (I didn't join this group till a year or so after I joined PBS so I don't know who took them but they went immediately). I have never read it and probably never will. Too much of a chunkster :)

I found an original green copy of The sleeping beauty yesterday, which fills one of the gaps in my Elizabeth Taylor collection.

That is always such a warm, wonderful feeling when you fill in that last spot for an author. Good snag Claire!

Arrived today from abebooks an omnibus edition of Wave Goodbye and Hearts Undefeated edited by Anne Boston and Jenny Hartley. (Sorry everyone still can't make touchstones work when posting from my tablet which I invariably am these days) it was first published by Virago in seperate volumes in 1988 and 1989. This omnibus version seems widely available from second hand sites. It contains loads of short stories and non fiction writing by some our favourite writers, including Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Rose Macaulay, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Jean Rhys, Olivia Manning, Mollie Panter Downes, Stevie Smith, Elizabeth Bowen, the list is endless.

Ooh, Jenny Hartley did the book on book groups that I've referred to lots in my research project! That sounds like a lovely book!

Sounds lovely Ali! I enjoyed my recent read of my first Christa Wolf so much (review to follow) that I sent off for a lovely green of No Place on Earth which just arrived!

About a year ago I was contacted by my gas and electric company and asked to take part in a series of surveys on their performance. It was a slow day and I agreed, and then went on to do about 20 e-mail surveys for them, most of which I answered with 'I don't know' or 'I wasn't aware there had been a power failure'. A few days ago, however, they sent me an Amazon gift card for $150 to thank me. I added a $35 gift card someone else had given me and - yesterday - bought myself 8 Persephones.

They won't arrive for a week or two and, of course, I have to see what Book Depository does to my order. Since they moved their stock to Amazon's NY warehouse I have had a continual stream of wrong and damaged books. But it was a thrilling little windfall given that my main Christmas present was a replacement steam mop!

>359 romain: Wow! What a wonderful treat! And yes - Persephones are *definitely* more exciting than a steam mop! :)

>359 romain::
Very awesome Barbara!~! Who would think. You enjoy those when they arrive. I have been loving my Persephone this past year as I have finally begun reading the few I have.

My VSS, CurrerBell, snuck one in on me. A wonderful book of verse. A real treasure. Will have to find out if he has a duplicate. I can't imagine anyone giving this love up.
It is The Oxford Book of Scottish Verse from 1966. (my H/S grad year)
When I attended the Philly Meet-up a couple of years ago, Mike & I showed up quite a bit early on the first evening and got to chatting. I know that people bring books to share and/or sell to others at the meet-up so silly me.......when he said that he had with him this book of Scottish Verse, I tried to buy it off him. Was quite embarrassed when he smiled at me and quietly replied that he had just purchased it for himself. lol!~! There I am with egg on my face once more.
I think, but am not positive, that this is one & the same book which made my heart go pitter-pat. SCORE!~!
Thank you Mike! ♥

Not Viragos, but I got carried away in the local library sale and even found a Persephone for 50p!!!!

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/12/28/so-i-popped-into-the-lib...

Lovely Kaggsy sent me E. H. Young's The Vicar's Daughter which arrived today - thank you!

>364 LyzzyBee: You're very welcome Liz!

I had a bit of luck with Persephone - There Were No Windows arrived today via RISI, so ideal for this year's challenge! :)

I'm not sure if this is a fabulous find or not but in the thrift store today I picked up a battered old hardback by Ann Bridge called Moments of Knowing which is about her experiences with ESP. It is definitely 'our' Ann Bridge and it was published in 1970. It goes on the TBR pile for sometime when I'm in the mood for a little ESP but who knew she had this side to her...

I found a copy of Pillion Riders by the slightly confusingly named Elisabeth Russell Taylor, one of two VMCs I hadn't previously heard of, in Any Amount of Books yesterday.

A lovely new arrival yesterday, thanks to CCookie - The Thinking Reed by Rebecca West - pic here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/margery-sharp-day-plus-...

Thanks so much Cathy! I also came across another Rebecca West Cousin Rosamund in wonderful condition for £1 so it was a good day yesterday!

>368 kaggsy:, Awww, what a nice thank-you!

Lovely finds today in the Samaritans Book Cave - Mrs. Miniver and Ordinary Families in lovely pristine greens - pic here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/the-joy-of-library-sale...

Wow - they look in great condition. Loved the train book as well. Never heard of it. Mystery in White?

>371 romain: The condition was unexpectedly stunning! So often second hand Viragos are battered and bent, and these don't look as if they've even been opened! It's only the tanning of the pages that gives away their age, and one even has a white price sticker on the back which looks pristine!

Mystery in White is one of the British Library Crime Classics series - the publishing arm of the BL are bringing out a lot of lost and out of print golden age crime tales in lovely covers and they're proving very popular. I read several last year but this one was highly recommended by Heavenali and Harriet Devine amongst others. The first few pages sound fab!

I was very blessed by the Book Fairies yesterday! :))))

Yes - a group of people trapped in a snow bound house. Wonderful! Wasn't that the plot of Death and the Dancing Footman? Years ago also I read a book by Paula Gosling that had a bunch of people stuck in a house in the very north of a Scandinavian country with a murderer. ETA title - The Zero Trap.

I think it was - though more of a traditional country house mystery than this one sounds! :)

Not a VMC, not even Virago authors that I am aware of.
BUT some very special anonymous someone who hails from W.V. has gifted me two first edition hardbacks. The first is With Juliet in England (1907) by Grace S. Richmond and the second is A Harvest of World Folk Tales (1949) edited by Milton Rugoff.
Thank you to whoever you are. I am most grateful, happy, over the moon!~!

A few lovely finds today in the charity shops, including a pristine edition of Poor Caroline by Winifred Holtby - pix here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/more-little-black-lovel...

A couple of lovely arrivals today, via ReadItSwapIt - original greens of Try Anything Twice by Jan Struther and Her Son's Wife by Dorothy Canfield. I hadn't heard of either before and I didn't know Struther had another Virago (obviously I'm not paying attention!) so that's very exciting. :)

Hit the mother load at Kaboom, a used book store in Houston - 32 VMCs to add to my collection with quite a few duplicates that will make it over to that thread as soon as I stop traveling for a bit and have time to mail some out.

By Elizabeth Taylor:
The Wedding Group, A Game of Hide and Seek and Palladian - all green Penguins.
The Sleeping Beauty and The Soul of Kindness - both Black Dial Press versions.

By Elizabeth von Arnim:
The Caravaners - green Penguin
Christopher and Columbus and Mr. Skeffington - original VMC green

By Molly Keane:
Young Entry - newer green VMC
Loving Without Tears - green Penguin
Taking Chances - not sure (lent it out before checking and adding it to my library!)

Original green:
Liana by Martha Gellhorn
The Ladies of Lyndon by Margaret Kennedy
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

Newer green VMC:
Liza's England by Pat Barker
The Sheik by E. M. Hull
You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town by Zoe Wicomb

Black Dial Press:
Strangers by Antonia White

Green Penguins:
The Wind Changes by Olivia Manning
Bobbin Up by Dorothy Hewett
The Overlanders by Dora Birtles
Saraband by Eliot Bliss
Cullum by E. Arnot Robertson
An Unsocial Socialist by G. Bernard Shaw
A Saturday Life by Radclyffe Hall
Millenium Hall by Sarah Scott
The Matriarch by G. B. Stern
The Happy Foreigner by Enid Bagnold
Red Pottage by Mary Cholmondeley
Phoebe Junior by Mrs. Oliphant
My Next Bride by Kay Boyle
Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner

WOW!

Incredible! Well done Lisa! :)

Whoa. That's AMAZING!!

Another lucky find yesterday in the local Samaritans Book Cave - Rhapsody by Dorothy Edwards. I already have her Winter Sonata so I was dead chuffed to find this one!

ETA: Pix of the Rhapsody here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/the-decline-of-the-book...

Louisa Treger, The Lodger is a novel about the life of Dorothy Richardson. Just downloaded the Kindle edition for 99p.

>378 LisaMorr: Wow! So glad all those lovely green books have found a good home.

>383 elkiedee: Thanks for the heads-up, Luci, I've just downloaded that!

While in Rochester recently I found two Viragos at the wonderful Baggins Book Bazaar - a newer green edition of The bull calves by Naomi Mitchison and an original green of The puzzleheaded girl by Christina Stead.

>384 Sakerfalcon: Well done Claire - nice finds! :)

>379 romain:, 380, 381, 384: I feel so lucky to have found all of them! And I plan on making a bigger dent in reading them this year.

The funny thing is that I always make it a point to search for used book stores when I'm traveling and have never looked here in the Pittsburgh area where I live. My husband mentioned recently that he's seen a good used bookstore downtown and he's going to take me there. I've trained to him to look for green spines and apples...

ONE fabulous Virago find among 10 finds in total here - and I'm going to have to find two more before I can read it! https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/book-reviews-vikings-and-song-of-...

I rarely post my finds here but am so excited with the arrival of two biographies which came to my P.O. today. A Curious Friendship: The Story of a Bluestocking and a Bright Young Thing about Edith Olivier & Rex Whistler's relationship and Adeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf
by Norah Vincent . Not VMC but thrilling, all the same, for me.

As I mentioned on the dupes thread, I had a few finds yesterday in the Samaritans Book Cave (and I suspect there may be more) - picture here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/in-which-it-becomes-cle...

>388 rainpebble: I am very intrigued by A Curious Friendship Belva as I keep reading good things about it!

>389 kaggsy: I loved the bit about the staff waiting excitedly for you to find the "fabulous finds"!! Besides the 7 you took away, how many more were there?

Probably half a dozen or more - I shall be returning next week with a proper list of what I've already got..... :)

It was quite funny, as I went downstairs and said hello - there was this kind of pregnant pause while they waited for me to go to the Classics section!

Yes Karen - fabulous and I read your blog with a big smile on my face.

I also do the thrift stores for stuff but as some of you may know Goodwill is now on line and they sell anything worth collecting on there now. I DO understand that they should not have to be a cheap source of supply for collectors of books and china and the like. When I go to the library book sales I fume when all the book dealers go in with their ISBN machines, especially when they go in an hour early as a 'Friend of the Library', and I can appreciate that my amateur book collecting might feel the same to the Goodwill staff. But I still feel sad when I see the dross that is now left for purchase in the stores and I still miss the British thrift stores!

My Persephone pre-orders Vain Shadow and Molly Panter Downes London War Notes (Touchstone won't work) finally came in from Book Depository and AGAIN one of the books was damaged. The lower right corner of the front cover was crumpled and the top of the spine ripped. Again I had to produce photos etc and they say they are replacing it.

I know that others here have had great good luck with BD, as did I - until their American stock was transferred to a NY State warehouse. Since then it's been horrible. I Googled the problem and there are many complaints about damaged books with some people saying the replacement book arrived damaged as well. Clearly by the time the books have been shipped to the warehouse from England, shelved, and then re-sent from there they have been handled by multiple people who could give a damn.

ETA - that on this Memorial Day weekend I DO realize that receiving a damaged book is NOTHING serious and that previous generations were stuck in foxholes and worse for months and years at a time. I have often wondered how I would've coped in the same situation. Cowering in the trenches fretting over helmet hair, I am sure.

>394 romain: How awful Barbara. Yes, a damaged book is a lesser problem than some people have to deal with, but it's very frustrating. What always makes me cross is the lack of care on the sender's part and often the out and out lies about condition. BD are usually ok in the UK, though I have had books that claim to be brand new where I'm not convinced... But it's especially frustrating when it's something like a Persephone... Hope the replacement is lovely!

My M-i-L has just called and brought me four Viragos. Two were new to me: Gone to Earth, in original green and A Wreath of Roses, in latest coloured edition, and two have replaced other editions: Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, in latest coloured edition to replace the film tie-in edition and The Enchanted April, in second style green to replace a modern coloured edition. I looked at the original green for The Enchanted April and it has quite the wrong picture so I'm even more pleased with my version. (I'll add to the duplicates thread, too!)

What a lovely mother-in-law you have, Kerry!

She is very thoughtful and she enjoys looking for them and always reads them herself, first.

I pray for a daughter in law I can buy books for!!!!!

I too, pray for a daughter in law I can buy books for and who would want to inherit my Virago & Persephone collections.

I found a pile of newer Daphne du Maurier VMCs and Nora Ephron's Heartburn at Half Price Books on a quick trip to Houston before heading up to Anchorage where I found 6 greenies and 4 newer VMCs at Title Wave.

The haul:
Newer VMCs:
by Daphne du Maurier: The Flight of the Falcon, I'll Never be Young Again, Frenchman's Creek, The Parasites, Castle Dor, Julius, Jamaica Inn and The Rendezvous and Other Stories
by Nora Ephron: Heartburn
by Winifred Holtby: Anderby Wold, Poor Caroline and The Land of Green Ginger
by Molly Keane: Loving and Giving
Original Green VMCs:
The Wild Geese by Bridget Boland
Selected Stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Keynotes & Discords by George Egerton
Green Penguin VMCs:
Winter Sonata by Dorothy Edwards
Marriage by Susan Ferrier
Mary O'Grady by Mary Lavin

Wow! Those really are fabulous finds!

Excellent haul, Lisa!

You prompted me to find out more about The Wild Geese as it isn't a Virago I'm familiar with, and it ended up in my Amazon basket 😳 .

Edited to add: I didn't think I was familiar with it but it's beginning to ring bells and I'm now wondering if someone here (Peggy perhaps) read it recently and quite liked it but didn't love it?

>402 kaggsy: >403 Soupdragon: Thank you!

I've picked up quite a few duplicates this year, but I'm traveling so much from now through October I won't have time to send anything out for a while. I plan to share the wealth on the duplicates thread then!

Great scores there Lisa! Good on you.

Haven't found much recently but Book Depository replaced my damaged Persephone. I have almost all the Persephones now. 4 to go out of 112 and about the same number to replace with better copies. Have read 38.

>403 Soupdragon: That might have been me, Dee.

I read The Wild Geese in March and liked it, with just a few small reservations.

http://fleurinherworld.com/2015/03/21/the-wild-geese-by-bridget-boland/

>407 BeyondEdenRock:: Ah yes, that was definitely the review I read. Thank you, Jane.